Friday Fun! (Cool People I Follow!)

Hello my lovely readers! I don’t have too terribly much to update you on today since I managed to get bronchitis “with a touch of strep” and have been down for the count all week. I am on antibiotics now. They are a beautiful beautiful thing. Anyway, so since my life this week has mostly consisted of laying around with a fever watching Big Bang Theory and Battlestar Galactica on repeat, I thought I’d do something different today and let you guys know about a few unique folks I follow in my GoogleReader that you might want to check out.

ANZ LitLovers LitBlog is a book blog I just recently discovered that focuses in on the literature of Australia and New Zealand. The instant I saw the title of the blog I went, “Wow, duh, what a gap in my reading!” She has a great page featuring a listing of must read ANZ lit titles.

Joe’s Blog is one of the few author blogs I follow (as opposed to authors who happen to have book blogs. I follow a few of those). Joseph Robert Lewis is an indie author whose books are available as ebooks, and he is a smart dude. Not only does he write scifi/fantasy/steampunk with a feminist slant out of a desire to write the types of books he wants to be available for his daughters to read, he’s also a really giving guy. He has a great section of advice for fellow writers looking to self-publish and maintains a great relationship with his readers (um, including me). His blog itself is an awesome mix of posts on what inspires his scifi/fantasy/steampunk worlds, his own life, and musings on writing. Oh, also, he came up with this awesome idea for a series co-written by a bunch of authors who have never met before all set in the same universe, and he’s actually pulling it off. The dude is creative and productive. Check him out, even if his books aren’t your genre.

Native Appropriations is run by fellow Boston gal, Adrienne, who is a member of the Cherokee tribe and currently studying for her PhD. Her posts discuss representation and appropriation of Native American culture in American pop culture and media. Her posts are thought-provoking and eloquent. Seriously, get rid of your People Magazine and Cosmo subscriptions and read what this smart lady has to say instead.

No Meat Athlete is run by a male vegan who also is, you guessed it, an athlete. He primarily runs marathons, but his posts feature great information for any type of athlete or fitness fan who is plant-based. I particularly found his post 7 Secrets of Post Work-out Recovery super useful for this plant-based weight-lifting lady. He’s also going to be doing the Boston Marathon. Yeahhhhh!

Finally, for everything vegan from vegans in the news to animal rights to product reviews, definitely follow Vegansaurus. They are my go-to site for sane animal rights coverage (unlike PETA *cough*). They also feature real life help this one situation here this one time if you can shout-outs that help me feel connected to the animal rights community. (Like one time we all got together to help a gal get her pup needed surgery, because, you know, who actually has insurance for their pets?) Between that, the cookbook reviews, the recipes, the products, and the news bits, it’s one of my favorite news sources.

Featured Quote

"Is all very well thinking everything is going to be different when you come back but then it is all the same. Suppose I have to make it different."
--Bridget Jones: The Edge of Reason by Helen Fielding